xpipe-mirror/DEVELOPMENT.md

# Development

Any contribution is welcomed!
There are no real formal contribution guidelines right now, they will maybe come later.

## Repository Structure

- [core](core) - Shared core classes of the X-Pipe Java API, X-Pipe extensions, and the X-Pipe daemon implementation
- [beacon](beacon) - The X-Pipe beacon component is responsible for handling all communications between the X-Pipe
  daemon
  and the client applications, for example the various programming language APIs and the CLI
- [app](app) - Contains the X-Pipe daemon implementation, the X-Pipe desktop application, and an
  API to create all different kinds of extensions for the X-Pipe platform
- [dist](dist) - Tools to create a distributable package of X-Pipe
- [ext](ext) - Available X-Pipe extensions. Essentially every feature is implemented as an extension

### Open source model

X-Pipe utilizes an open core model, which essentially means that
the main application is open source while certain other components are not.
Select parts are not open source yet, but may be added to this repository in the future.
Some tests and especially test environments and that run on private servers
are also not included in this repository (Don't want to leak server information).
Finally, scripts and workflows to create and publish installers and packages
are also not included to prevent attackers from easily impersonating the X-Pipe application.

## Modularity

All X-Pipe components target [JDK 19](https://openjdk.java.net/projects/jdk/19/) and make full use of the Java Module System (JPMS).
All components are modularized, including all their dependencies.
In case a dependency is (sadly) not modularized yet, module information is manually added using [moditect](https://github.com/moditect/moditect-gradle-plugin).
Further, note that as this is a pretty complicated Java project that fully utilizes modularity,
many IDEs still have problems building this project properly.
For example, you can't build this project in eclipse or vscode as it will complain about missing modules.
The tested and recommended IDE is IntelliJ.

## Setup

You need to have an up-to-date version of X-Pipe installed on your local system in order to properly
run X-Pipe in a development environment.
This is due to the fact that some components are only included in the release version and not in this repository.
X-Pipe is able to automatically detect your local installation and fetch the required
components from it when it is run in a development environment.

## Building and Running

You can use the gradle wrapper to build and run the project:
- `gradlew app:run` will run the desktop application. You can set various useful properties in `app/build.gradle`
- `gradlew dist` will create a distributable production version in `dist/build/dist/base`.
- `gradlew <project>:test` will run the tests of the specified project.

You are also able to properly debug the built production application through two different methods:
- The `app/scripts/xpiped_debug` script will launch the application in debug mode and with a console attached to it
- The `app/scripts/xpiped_debug_attach` script attaches a debugger with the help of [AttachMe](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/13263-attachme).
  Just make sure that the attachme process is running within IntelliJ, and the debugger should launch automatically once you start up the application.

Note that when any unit test is run using a debugger, the X-Pipe daemon process that is started will also attempt
to connect to that debugger through [AttachMe](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/13263-attachme) as well.